CHICO -- For the second straight year, Chico State University has received more applications than ever before.

By the Nov. 30 deadline, the university had received 26,019 applications for fall of 2013. That's 15.7 percent more than last year's total of 22,497.

Applications for next fall received by the California State University system as a whole set a record as well. The CSU received applications from 294,926 students, an increase of 10 percent from the year before.

The big increase in applications doesn't mean there will be a corresponding rise in enrollment.

Generally, Chico State and the other 22 CSU campuses only admit as many students as funding allows. A higher number of applications without a corresponding rise in funding means a greater number of qualified applicants will be turned away.

Chico State's enrollment for fall of 2013 will be about the same as enrollment for fall of 2012, said Allan Bee, the university's director of admissions. Around 16,400 students are expected to enroll in August.

Chico State and the CSU had their highest enrollments ever in the 2007-08 academic year, before the state's fiscal crisis.

That year, Chico State enrolled 17,442 students. The CSU had 440,000 students. Its current enrollment is about 430,000.

Like the other 22 CSU campuses, Chico State is told by the CSU Chancellor's office how many students it should enroll. Those numbers, called enrollment targets, vary according to how much money the CSU has.

Probably most of the 26,019 students who applied to Chico State this fall also applied to other schools. So even if they are accepted here, many will go elsewhere.

Given its enrollment target for next fall, Chico State expects to have about 4,700 "slots" for new students, Bee said. Those slots include 2,505 for new freshmen.

Applicants get priority for these slots if they are from Chico State's "service area," which includes 12 north-state counties.

As long as they meet the CSU's minimum admission requirements, they are guaranteed spots. Typically, 20 percent to 25 percent of the slots are filled by students from the service area.

The remaining spots go to the students with the best qualifications, in terms of test scores and grade-point averages.

With more applicants, "we have to be more choosey," Bee said.

At this point, he said he couldn't predict how many students will be turned away by Chico State.

Bee said another reason is that the chancellor ordered most CSU campuses to not enroll any new students for the spring semester, which begins in January. Many students who wanted to start in the CSU in January are having to wait until fall.

Because it's been successful at meeting enrollment targets, Chico State was one of 10 campuses that were allowed to admit new students in January, Bee said. It's expected about 600 new students will enter Chico State then.

If Proposition 30 hadn't passed in November, the CSU budget would have been cut by $200 million, and the systemwide enrollment target would have been reduced by 20,000 students, Uhlenkamp said. Bee said Chico State's share of that decline would have been about 825 students.

He said it's estimated each student spends $30,000 per year in Chico.

Latinos largest group of Chico State applicants

CHICO — Among students who would be new freshmen, Latinos make up the largest group of applicants for fall of 2013 at Chico State University.

In the California State University as a whole, the breakdown of applicants was as follows: Latino, 99,558; White, 84,629; Asian, 50,585; two or more races, 18,739; Black, 17,663; decline to state, 7,329; Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 2,502.